Category: Police

Today (Wednesday 18 December) His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have published the first part of their findings into the police response to this summer’s violent disorder.

The Inspectorate state that, with the benefit of hindsight, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) should have activated the national mobilisation plan earlier. However, they also recognise the complexities of the operation, and that policing was dealing with many unpredictable seats of disorder, while dealing with a disparate intelligence picture.

The report acknowledges that the national mobilisation of resources worked well and that this was instrumental in ending the disorder and restoring peace to our towns and cities. We’re pleased that this has been recognised as it testament to the incredible work undertaken by our officers, staff, and volunteers, who were dutiful and quick to respond in the face of real danger and adversity, and unprecedented escalation.

The Inspectorate also rightly recognise that local mobilisation was conducted robustly, and that it was only when these responses became insufficient, inflamed in part by social media, that a national mobilisation plan was required to support forces across the country. The impact of social media and the sporadic nature of some of the violence was not predictable in advance and led to unprecedented violence fuelled by disinformation. In some areas, social media indicated that disorder was expected, but it did not materialise.

We accept the Inspectorate’s recommendations and findings, and our own reflective work (conducted with forces and the College of Policing) is already making substantial changes across policing to better prepare the police service for any future disorder of this scale. 

The senseless violence and destruction of communities by groups of violent thugs was completely inexcusable and policing responded quickly to arrest those suspected of involvement. Working closely with partners in Government and the criminal justice system, we have ensured that perpetrators of violence have received swift justice.

To ensure that operational learning is collated, shared and implemented, the College of Policing is currently carrying out a thorough debrief of forces and officers. The themes being looked at include around welfare, tactics, leadership, and equipment. The responses to this are currently being analysed.

As stated in the report, the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) has recognised the need to review capacity and capability, and have already made substantial updates to the national mobilisation plan.

In September, NPoCC circulated this draft plan for consultation. This revised plan begins to address the need for the national coordinating gold commander to have the explicit authority to decide on national mobilisation numbers and to set the strategic plan that forces should follow.

The NPCC has also already carried out an impact survey following the conclusion of the summer disorder to help understand what impact this had on individual officers. The majority of respondents have reported being aware of the physical and wellbeing support available to them through their force but less aware that this support was available through the National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo. This finding has also been reflected in the report. It is an important learning and something that chief constables will take time to carefully reflect on.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Public Order, Chief Constable BJ Harrington said:

“Scrutiny and reflection must always be expected after responding to major incidents such as this summer’s major disorder, and we thank the Inspectorate and forces for working quickly to complete this work.

“The report states that, with hindsight, the national mobilisation plan should have been made earlier, and this is a helpful recommendation. Hindsight can be useful, and these learnings are important, but we are pleased that the Inspectorate also recognise how complex of a situation this was for policing to respond to, and that on the whole, the service did so well. Of particular note, I’m pleased that the report recognises that the mobilisation of resources was instrumental in ending the disorder and restoring peace to our towns and cities.

“This was the largest mobilisation of public order public safety officers since 2011, and it is encouraging to see that the report acknowledges the immense bravery and professionalism shown by our people at this time, often in the face of serious abuse and threats.

“We are committed to continuous improvement and learning, and all of the report’s findings and recommendations will of course be considered very carefully. Those relating to the national management of public order related intelligence and also the process for effective national decision-making are timely, and can be considered as part of wider conversations currently taking place within policing and Government regarding police reform.”

The national policing response launched by NPCC – Operation Navette – was created to provide effective national coordination for the planning and response to demonstrations and disorder, as well as engagement and communication with forces, government and key national stakeholders. This included:

• A national Gold group established and led by the NPCC Public Order and Public Safety Lead.
• An intelligence coordination group led by the NPCC Intelligence Lead.
• The activation of the national mobilisation plan and the development of national strategic public order research, with NPoCC assuming a central coordination function for all public order assets across the country.

At the outset, forces affected by these issues planned and resourced operations based upon assessment of threat and risk within a local context. This included neighbourhood officers, as well as public order trained person

Throughout the period of Operation Navette, forces continued to mobilise neighbourhood policing resources alongside public order reserves. In many force areas these were sufficient, and managed responses to disorder and assemblies effectively.

Despite the demands on our people, ‘business as usual’ policing activity never ceased; as always, responding to crime and maintaining public safety remained the top priority for all chief constables.

For example, the period of disorder coincided with the start of the new Premier League season, and there was some speculation in the press that policing would be unable to commit its normal level of resourcing. However, forces, in conjunction with the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU), were able to mitigate risk to an acceptable level, and the weekend’s fixtures took place without major incident.

Police forces are committed to delivering swift justice for those involved in the summer disorder. As of 13 November 2024, there have been:

•  1,711 arrests
•  1,041 charges

127 suspects have been identified using retrospective facial recognition.

340 suspects have been observed in footage who are yet to be identified – work continues to bring them to justice.

The highest volume of arrests took place in the north and centre of England and were primarily for public order offences.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council responds to today’s announcement on the police funding settlement. 

Responding to today’s announcement on police funding, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Finance, Chief Constable Paul Sanford, said:

“The funding settlement announced today presents real challenges for policing, with forces facing an estimated £1.3bn gap in finances over the next two years. This will inevitability lead to cuts across forces.

“Investment in neighbourhood policing is welcome, as is the Government’s ambition to support and deliver the wide-scale reform our service needs in order to better protect the public in the long term.

“However, by ringfencing funding for neighbourhood police officers, forces are unable to invest in other specialist areas of policing that are critical to our service.

“Crime is evolving at a rapid pace and becoming more and more complex in nature. At a time when community needs have never been greater, we cannot afford to cut back our resources.

“We are fully committed to achieving the Government’s ambition of making our streets safer and reducing violence against women and girls. To do that, we need to focus on recruiting the right people with the right skills, supported by the best technology, and not measure our effectiveness alone through officer numbers.

“Our current funding model is outdated and means that the funding announced today will not be evenly shared across forces, resulting in some forces facing significant deficits. As part of wider police reform, we have long called for a new funding model that would help forces to plan for the future and improve financial resilience.

“We continue to work with government to drive greater productivity and efficiency in our police service, however, without proper funding and investment, and with no resilience left in police budgets, efficiencies can only take us so far to meet these challenges.

“We reaffirm our commitment to work closely with government to improve policing, including through the forthcoming spending review.”

National policing team in place for next stage of Post Office Horizon criminal investigation

• 100-strong investigation team made up of officers across the UK
• Investigation continues to focus on offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice
• Over 1.5m documents so far to review and thousands of victims

An ongoing investigation unprecedented in size and scale will now be supported by a 100-strong team of skilled police officers and staff from across the UK to try and secure justice for the thousands of people affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Operation Olympos is the ongoing criminal investigation into what is often described as the largest miscarriage of justice in British legal history. It has been running since 2020, and in parallel with the Public Inquiry since it began in February 2022. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Metropolitan Police Service have been working with Chief Constables across the UK to build a national investigation team, which is now in place. The investigation is currently reviewing over 1.5 million documents, although the true scale is not yet known.

Four Regional Investigation Teams (RITs) are made up from police forces across England and Wales with Police Scotland, Police Service of Northern Ireland and the National Crime Agency, also making a contribution.

Op Olympos is currently investigating offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice and is not a reinvestigation of all of the prosecutions of sub postmasters. It is a focussed and proportionate investigation into potential criminality in the prosecutions of sub-postmasters and the wider presentation of the Horizon IT system as robust.

Commander Stephen Clayman is Gold lead for Op Olympos, he said:

“The sub-postmasters and their families are at the heart of this investigation and our goal is to try and secure justice for those affected by this shocking set of events, the impact of which cannot be underestimated.

“The scale of the task ahead  is unprecedented and I am confident we have an excellent team in place, with the support of cutting-edge technology to strengthen our search for information and evidence in amongst the 1.5 million-plus documents obtained and which will grow.

“I do know that if you take into account Post Office criminal and private prosecutions, civil claims and contract withdrawals, there are potentially thousands of victims who we are working hard to identify and build our database so that we can ensure we reach as many affected individuals as possible.

“I cannot make promises that this will be a fast process.  An investigation of this size must continue to be undertaken meticulously and methodically and will take time. However, I speak on behalf of our whole team when I say we will approach it with independence, precision and integrity.”

Emily Spurrell, APCC Chair, said:

“The severe and enduring impact on sub-postmasters has become increasingly clear as events have unfolded, and the stories have emerged of some of those wrongfully prosecuted and convicted. Victims of the Horizon IT scandal exist in every part of the UK – innocent people whose lives have been ruined over a quarter of a century.

“Those who found themselves caught up in this through no fault of their own deserve justice and, as what is likely to be a lengthy police investigation scales up, they are entitled to be fully supported through it. Under the Victims Code of Practice, victims have a right to be referred to free support services for help in coping and recovering after a crime.

“Delivering support for victims is key to what Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) do, and I would encourage any of those affected, or their families, to contact their local PCC for help in accessing support services available in their area.”

The team has launched a Major Investigation Public Portal where anyone can submit information and documents and will shortly be publishing a dedicated webpage to provide updates and resources on the investigation as it progresses.

If you have information to submit or would like to get in touch with the investigation team, you can do so here Public Portal.

Further information about Op Olympos

National oversight of the investigation is provided by a Platinum group, led by NPCC Chair, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens comprised of nationally appointed leads for the investigation, finance, Crown Prosecution Service and victim engagement. Its role is to ensure the national team remains resourced to agreed strengths, along with oversight of the financial management of the investigation and infrastructure. 

The investigation is unprecedented in both scale, complexity and is truly national in  scope – with most areas across England and Wales affected, along with Scotland and Northern Ireland. Given that that the majority of victims are located outside of London, it was determined that this should not be the sole responsibility of the MPS and that a national policing response would be necessary to build the larger team required.

Phase 1 of this investigation focuses on individuals making key decisions on post office investigations of supporting prosecutions and related activity. Phase 2 will look at wider offences.

Whilst the investigation was progressing in parallel to the Public Inquiry and will continue to do so now that is coming to an end, no charging decisions will be made until the final inquiry report is both received and thoroughly reviewed.

Further information available here